Establishment of Parliamentary Budget Office vital in improving budget process

Eugenia Madhidha

Dar es Salaam

With the 2011/12 Parliamentary budget sessions continuing unabated in Dodoma, concerns have been raised over the Members of Parliament's oversight role in the budget process. The parliament's budgetary oversight function is not only deemed ineffective but also largely a routine scanning and rubber stamping occasion.

It remains an open secret that the bulk of the MPs lack capacity in terms of appropriate technical skills to effectively participate in the budget process.  A lot of noise has been made over the failure by parliament to hand over budget books within the stipulated time. Article 96 of the Parliamentary Standing orders (2007 Edition) stipulate that parliamentarians should get budget books 27 days before the budget session, for them  to make meaningful contributions during the debates.

 Despite failure to get the books on time, parliamentarians lack the technical know-how when it comes to budget matters as they stem from various professional backgrounds such as engineering, medicine, education, social sciences and entertainment just but to mention a few.  This cripples some MPs' ability to effectively engage the executive on budgetary matters and in most cases they submit to some policies, not because they agree but due to ignorance hence are relegated to rubber stamping role.

Parliament plays an important role in the running of a country as its oversight duties contribute to the crucial role of effectively monitoring and reviewing the legislature, policy and fiscal administration by government on behalf of the citizens. But, for this to be achieved, the parliament's oversight of the budget process has to be effective.

The oversight role is achieved when the parliament keeps an eye on the activities of the executive and holding them (executive) to account on behalf of the general populace as it is the one responsible for the provision of adequate resources for the citizens. But in Tanzania, government's ranking in respect of its performance in budget transparency and parliamentary oversight continues to be low.

It is against this background that Policy Forum, a network of over 100 civil society organizations, advocates the establishment of an independent non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), a move meant to strengthen the legislature’s oversight role in the budget process.

In a bid to achieve this, the network held an awareness meeting with MPs in Dodoma recently. And, addressing the gathering the Coordinator of Policy Forum, Semkae Kilonzo, highlighted the need to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), an independent, non-partisan, entity formed under the auspices of the Office of Parliament that examines the budget proposal from the executive and enables MPs to come up with alternative budgets.

Johnson Kaijage and Semkae Kilonzo (left) of  Policy Forum
discussing the improtance of PBO with MPs in Dodoma recently

Johnson Kaijage of the Policy Forum Secretariat, during the same meeting, presented the PBO concept and the rationale to support its establishment in Tanzania pointing out that there was need to improve the capacity of MPs to be more proactive in the budget process and engage more meaningful with the executive particularly with regards to analyzing the proposals submitted to them in parliament.

“MPs needed more information to engage effectively in the process. At the moment, inadequate information was being provided and often too late to make meaningful inputs,” he added.

He also explained that PBOs are designed to prepare economic forecasts that are independent of the executive, analyze budget proposals submitted by the executive, develop budget projections and prepare spending-cut options for legislative consideration.

In a press statement released recently, Policy forum's Budget Working Group member, Moses Kulaba, said, “The network has for a long time observed the performance of Parliament in delivering upon democratic governance and is concerned that it is wanting in exercising its budgetary oversight function.”

Kulaba observed that parliament’s weakness in execution of this key oversight duty contrasts sharply with the executive’s management of the whole budget process. “There is minimal involvement of Parliamentarians in the process,” he added.

The 2011 Open Budget Index, a comprehensive survey that evaluates whether governments give adequate public access to budget information and opportunities to stakeholders to participate in the budget process, confirms this weakness.

Kilonzo, said that the 2010 Open Budget Index rated the Tanzanian parliament’s budgetary oversight as being weak because it does not have full powers to change the executive’s budget proposal at the start of the budget year; it does not have sufficient time to discuss and approve the executive’s budget proposal – citing receipt of the budget in less than six weeks before the start of the financial year; and it does not hold open discussions at which the public can participate.

“This is coupled with low technical analytical capacity of Parliamentarians’ and insufficient information to effectively hold duty bearers to account, contributing to parliament’s weak performance on budgetary oversight,” Kilonzo added.

An independent Parliamentary Budget Office, established under the structures of the legislatures would, among other things, examined the draft annual budget proposed by the executive and provides analytical support to parliamentarians to be able to question the proposal in question and enable them to propose alternative budget proposals. Its key role is to produce objective budgetary, fiscal and programmatic information for legislators to be able to contribute, interpret, review and make concrete judgments regarding budget proposals – hence effectively exercising their oversight functions.

“The PBO has been established in other jurisdictions like Kenya, Uganda and Ghana who previously had parliamentarians who experienced the same problems as ours. The evidence from these countries is that MPs have strengthened their capacity and are now more engaged in the budget process giving meaningful inputs to the executive’s proposals,” said Kulaba.

Parliament’s oversight of the budget process involves monitoring and review of the entire budget process including the broad fiscal challenges facing government, expenditure controls and budgetary tradeoffs that affect present and future spending. On the overall, the budgetary oversight function is part of a checks-and-balances system that ensures that there is accountability in the utilization of inadequate financial resources.

It remains to be seen whether the parliament will spearhead the formation of the PBO for better accountability and helping parliamentarians effectively execute their budget oversight role. This will be enabled by the fact that the office will become an oasis of information (on budget issues) in this desert.

The writer is a Media Specialist with Sikika, a member of Policy Forum’s Budget Working Group.

Media Fun Day!

Minister of information, youth, culture and sports,Hon.Dr. Emmanuel John Nchimbi
(left) and Eugenia Madhidha at Cine club on Media Fun Day 2011

Of health facilities becoming ‘white elephants’

…..as staff and medicine shortages rock hospitals.

Eugenia Madhidha

FOR a place to be deemed a health facility, there are things that are considered to be necessities such as human resources and medicinal drugs, among many others. However, we find so many health facilities in this country failing to meet these standards thereby being reduced to nothing but white elephants.

Recently, it was reported that Dar es Salaam municipal hospitals are facing serious shortages of medicines and medical staff such as nurses and doctors, something that cripples the operations of these health facilities, aggravating the suffering of the general public as they fail to provide quality services to patients.

The most saddening thing is that they continue singing the old song, blaming it on financial constraints as the major root of the problems.

According to the reports, Mwananyamala Municipal Hospital Medical Officer-In-Charge Zuhura Majapa, said that the hospital is currently facing shortage of doctors, nurses and they do not have sufficient medicines. On the other hand, the Amana Municipal Hospital Medical Officer-In-Charge told the media that the hospital is also facing shortage of doctors and nurses and the available specialists cannot efficiently serve the increasing number of patient.

The situation at these two major hospitals in Dar es Salaam, is a cancer affecting many other health facilities throughout the country. The problem of medicinal drugs shortages has been a cause for concern especially for many poor rural dwellers who cannot afford to buy them from pharmacies or those who live in remote areas where pharmacies are either too far away or nonexistent.

It is important to note that medicines are a vital component in a human’s body as they restore human health. Though they can be traced as far back as humanity, they go a long way in saving lives in a world full of dreaded diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, malaria and cholera and so on. It is unfortunate, however, that despite the existence of these medicines many people, especially in Tanzania succumb to diseases because of acute shortages of drugs.

The shortage of medicinal drugs has been prevailing for eons now and, with the look of things, no permanent solution is in sight for the problem as blame game is the order of the day. It is unfortunate that many citizens think that medical practitioners are to blame for the non availability of medicines at health centers. For example a Sikika (NGO that deals with health issues) volunteer who identified himself as Redemptus came across some patients who were complaining about the non availability of medicines at Kafuma health facility and he had to help the doctor-in-charge to explain to angry patients the procedures and steps taken until medicines are delivered to health facilities.

In most cases, when confronted by patients who will be eager to know the reasons for the shortages, medical practitioners shift the blame on the MSD for not supplying the medicines while on the other hand the MSD blames both the government, for owing them money, a move that cripples their operations and the medical practitioners in health centers for misusing the medicines by selling them in private pharmacies.

On the other hand, the government blames both the MSD and health officials for the problem. The blame game is in most cases counterproductive as the root cause of the problem remains unaddressed.

Citizens, therefore, should not be vilified when they complain about the problems they come across whenever they visit health facilities. It remains true that some have lost trust in these health centres as they are either forced to spend long hours waiting to be served because of lack of medical staff or are forced to fork out their hard earned cash to buy medicines from pharmacies. This seems to have cultivated a dangerous practice where some people don't seek medical treatment, hoping that the diseases will complete their cycle and they will be healed naturally.

According to the speech by the Minister for Health and Social Welfare when he was  presenting  ministry budget for FY 2010/11 in the parliament on 28^th  June 2010 an amount of  Tsh 61.6 billions was allocated for buying of drugs  and  supplies( vifatiba na vitendanishi katika Zahanati, vituo vya afya na hospitali za umma) and  Tsh 287 billions  for  buying and distribution of HIV and malaria  drugs  around the country . But, what is surprising is that health facilities throughout the country continue facing medicinal drugs shortages despite a huge amount being reserved to address the problem.

And, with the look of things, it seems no solution is in sight for the problem and this disadvantage the ordinary person on the street. It is, therefore, important to note that it remains the responsibility of the MSD, government and the medical practitioners to make sure that medicines reach the intended target. This, however, can only be done if each one of these responsible authorities do their job diligently and stop pointing fingers at each other.

On the other hand, it is important for the powers that be to address the perennial shortage of medical staff. Much noise has been made about it while less action seems to have been taken to address it.

This, therefore, means that there is need for concerted effort to end these social anomalies to not only make life easier for ordinary citizens but also save lives.

Government should intensify commitment to stop unnecessary spending

By Eugenia Madhidha

One day, some officials belonging to a certain organisation went for a workshop outside the country which was supposed to go for five days. Unfortunately due to reasons beyond their control, the workshop had to go for four days. And, when they got back to their office they claimed allowances for five days. Interestingly, their employer was wise enough to define the allowances for one day they did not attend the workshop as “unnecessary” which made the officials despondent claiming that they were treated unfairly.

The problem of unnecessary spending has been haunting humanity for a long time, but, just as another man's meat can be another's poison, so is the issue of spending where the classification of ‘unnecessary expenditure’ has been manipulated by some people who hide behind fingers to justify their spending.

However, though it might remain true that what people call unnecessary spending can vary and differ according to perception, the government in this country, realised that there was this problem within its ranks and vowed to tackle it.

It is against this background that, Sikika, a non-governmental that deals with health advocacy in Tanzania, recently warned the government (in a press release) that it should intensify its commitment to stop unnecessary spending for the benefit of the tax-payers and channel the money to developmental projects.

Though it came as good news that the sum of all unnecessary expenditures in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as regions fell from 684 billion (bn) Tanzanian Shillings (TSh) in financial year (FY) 2008/09 to 530 bn TSh in FY 2009/10, which is a reduction of 22.4 percent. But, for the FY 2010/11 these expenditures are expected to rise slightly to 537 bn TSh, a move which contradicts the government’s stated commitment to spend its resources more wisely.

“People have a habit of “over claiming” when it comes to allowances and other benefits such as fuel. For example, someone wants to embark on a journey that will need only one gallon of fuel but will discover that the person claims two gallons. Why would one need two gallons of fuel when one is enough”, said Rufaro Chatora, one of the presenters representing WHO during a monthly breakfast debate organized by Policy Forum on controlling unnecessary expenditure at the British Council Dar es Salaam where the book titled Unnecessary expenditures: A Brief on the Government’s Initiative to Refocus Expenditure was launched.

It is impressive that Sikika in collaboration with Policy Forum, in the brief that can be found at www.sikika.or.tz and its first edition was produced in April 2010, identified six budget items that are considered to be severely laden with unnecessary expenditures as:- Training (domestic and foreign), Allowances (non-discretionary, discretionary, and in-kind), Travel (in-country and out-of-country), Acquisition of New Vehicles, Fuel, Oil and Lubricants and Hospitality Supplies and Services.

As much as the above-mentioned are important, the main concern here is that they are supposed to be reduced, for example, why should we have nine facilitators for one workshop which can be facilitated by three or so people and why should one get paid for attending allowances for five days while in actual fact he or she would have attended three days? Why should we keep on training the same people, the same thing and not giving others a chance?

It is fortunate that the government has also recognized this problem of unnecessary expenditure and has through its top officials like the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda committed to increase control over and economize those expenditures. However, urgent measures have to be taken before the problem gets out of hand. The overwhelming rise of unnecessary expenditures is really distasteful and something has to be done about it as the money wasted can be utilised somewhere else for the benefit of the general public.
Urgent measures, therefore, need to be taken in curbing the problem which in most cases benefits the same group of people. It is high time that the government realizes unnecessary spending has ripple effects as in the long run, leads to failure in service delivery and lagging behind in development, something that disadvantages the public, who in most cases are the taxpayers.
It is also important that the general public have access to information when it comes to budgets, so that they can also be in a position to monitor and follow up on how funds meant to benefit them are used. This will go a long way in empowering wananchi so that their voices can be heard once their funds are misused.
The government should, therefore, put in place measures to curb unnecessary expenditure for the benefit of the public and make Tanzania a better place for

War on counterfeits rages on as TBS introduces imported goods certification mark

Eugeniah Madhidha
Light seems to be shining at the end of a dark tunnel for the Tanzanian market, which for eons has been battling the presence of counterfeit goods, as the country’s products watchdog, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), has made some inroads by introducing a new certification mark for all genuine imported goods.
The import standardization mark was presented to stakeholders by TBS Director, Charles Ekelege, during a pre-implementation conference for stakeholders held at the watchdog’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam recently.
The introduced mark is meant to ensure that genuine imported products are easily identified by consumers. This comes at a time when the war agai8nst fake commodities seemed to have been lost in this country because the rate at which counterfeits were invading this country then, it wasn’t going to be surprising if we ended up having fake people.
The country’s free economy, globalization, capitalism and laxity on policing have been blame for a long time as the primary contributing factors fueling the prevalence of fake goods on the market.
The problem of fake goods in this country has been with us for a long time now. And, this year alone TFDA had to deal with several cases in a bid to redress the situation.
Early this year, the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) banned the anti-malaria drug Metakelfin and ordered all vendors and health centres to return the remaining stocks to their wholesale suppliers.
TFDA Director Ms Magreth Ndomondo-Sigonda, was quoted saying that the order goes simultaneously with stopping the same drugs from being imported, distributed and sold in the country.
“We're stopping use of this drug until further notice,” Sigonda insisted during a press conference held at the TFDA offices in Dar es Salaam. Explaining the move, she said TFDA had noticed that many tablets imported and sold currently were counterfeits and had a poor efficacy in the curing of malaria.
“Vendors who bought the medicine legally should be refunded by the sellers ,” the TFDA director said. Laboratory observations conducted in March this year noted that drugs labeled Batch Number E378A were counterfeits and not fit for human treatment. Other batches in the list were G894A, G895A, G043A, G035A E378A and E088A. These have a low content of Sulphamethopyrazine and Pyrimethamine 25mg which are useful for curing malaria,” she said.
As if this problem was not enough, the media revealed the prevalence of fake S-26 breast milk substitute baby formula. This was condemned by a wide section of the society and revealed that thousands of babies’ lives were at risk in the country as the fake milk had negative effects on their health.
This forced TFDA to act swiftly and confiscate a total of 38,560 tins of S-26 infant formula manufactured by Pharmacare Woodmead- Sandton, South Africa which they sampled and declared unfit for human consumption after laboratory tests.
Then of late, the Tanzania Solar Energy Association (TASEA) has revealed that substandard and counterfeit solar panels are being sold in various shops selling electrical appliances in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam,.
TASEA Executive Secretary Eng. Mathew Matimbwi, was quoted recently saying that, “after receiving many complaints, they carried out investigations and realized the existence of counterfeits in some shops visited during the exercise.
Eng. Matimbwi said that most of the solar panels that don't have instructions inscribed at the back side are said to be made in China and were sold for up to 400,000/- in some shops which is too expensive for 'wananchi'.
These are just but few incidents where the watchdogs have battled this social misnomer and in trying to contain it, TBS, recently announced that they were planning to carry out pre-shipment verification of consignment (PVoC) from the country or place of origin.
This move is meant to verify the status of all goods imported into this country before they even leave their country of origin.
And, addressing stakeholders when presenting a certification mark for imported item, Ekelege said: “We want to reach a point where there is no substandard product in the market, be it locally manufactured or imported,” adding that that the mark will go a long way in enhancing fair competition in the market.
To make sure that this will work, the director said, violators of the rules governing the mark will face various penalties, including licence termination, orders to withdraw products from the market and destruction of the product or returning it to the country of origin at the investor’s expense.
Addressing the same gathering, Acting Head of Quality Management Department Eng. Joshua Katabwa said the import standardization mark shall be affixed on all approved items, and called upon importers to comply with this new requirement.
“Electronic verification of the authenticity of the mark on products shall be conducted during inspections and any mark not traceable to the data base shall be treated as illegal and the culprits shall be traced for legal action,” he added.
Though this is a turning point in the fight against fake products and will go a long way in curbing the cancer, more need to be done to educate wananchi on the mark so that they know and identify original goods from fake ones using the mark.
As long as wananchi are in the dark in as far as the existence of the mark is concerned then this will be tantamount to a man winking at a woman in the dark. In other words it will be wasted effort as the general public will continue being taken advantage of.

Will EWURA intervention solve Dar water problems?

Eugenia Madhidha
The place is crowded, women putting on kangas are miserably sitting on their buckets, some could be seen gossiping while others are anxiously waiting for their turn to draw water, scores of men with pushcarts loaded with empty plastic containers are also agonizingly waiting for their turn to get the precious liquid.
The place is a mess with water being splashed everywhere leaving the area wet and muddy. One will be forgiven to mistaken the place to a fish market, but alas, the place describes central water collection point in Yombo-Kilakala which is a common place in most high density suburbs in Dar es Salaam.
The water collection point popularly known as bombani are strategically located in these areas to an extent that residents draw water from central points in the suburbs. The problem, however, is that they are very few such that some have to walk for long distances to get to a nearest point. This problem has been mainly caused by vandalism and theft.
Last year, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority (DAWASA) and Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Corporation (DAWASCO), revealed that they suffered vandalism and theft despite steps to counter the stealing of pipes and other water equipment which were affecting the water supply network in the city.
According to DAWASA then, more than 360 pieces worth some 700m/- were stolen since 2006. The pieces include valves, fire hydrants, flanges, coupling, water meters, pipe joints and steel cover and were still working on recovering them.
These problems have been denying wananchi access to clean water in Dar es Salaam to an extent that some of the residents have been forced to fetch water from unprotected shallow wells, something that posses a great danger to their health.
This quest for making quick buck has seen many people engaging in uncouth activities such as stealing of water equipment or illegal connections to the water supply network. DAWASCO has been for a long-time discovered many illegal connections that they disconnected, by-passing official connections to avoid paying for the water used.
Last year, three people were arrested in Sinza, Dar es Salaam for allegedly tampering with DAWASCO infrastructure. The company’s chief commercial officer, Raymond Mndolwa said then that the suspects drilled into big eight inch water pipe and allegedly connected their pipes that enabled them to access water and started selling it to customers including big water vehicles.
Six water pumps were confiscated in the operation at three houses in the area. Such acts of sabotage are counter productive as they thwart efforts by the government to provide clean water to wananchi as greedy citizens take advantage and make it an opportunity to rack millions of dollars.
However all hope is not lost as the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) directed the DAWASA to improve the water supply and sewerage services, including installation of meters.
According to EWURA’s recent newsletter, DAWASA was given an ultimatum to increase the number of metered customers to 104,000 by the end of this month, helping customers to be charged according to consumption.
Areas expected to be metered by the end of this month include, Kimara,Kibaha, Dar es Salaam city centre and Boko.
More to that, the newsletter indicates that DAWASA should reduce unaccounted for water to 40% by June this year. This will go a long way in alleviating the problem of water shortages in the city as a lot of unaccounted for water is lost through vandalism and unattended to burst pipes.
It will also remain a sad story for many residents in high density suburbs as the ultimatum does not directly benefit them. Those who will smile most are those with the means to pay for the metered water and the responsible authorities should see to it that water is availed to everyone including the ordinary person on the streets.
But, with vandalism continuing to cripple the water distribution network and burst pipes taking long to be attended to, then the problem of water in Dar es Salaam is far from over. It is vital that everyone plays his or her part to safeguard the equipment failure to do that water provision will remain a nightmare for the powers that be in the city and the ordinary people will continue to suffer as Dar will remain a dry city

Dar businesses operate in fear of fire outbreaks

EUGENIA MADHIDHA
‘Fire! Fire! Call the fire brigade.’ This has become a common saying in Dar es Salaam as many fire outbreaks are being reported frequently leaving many businesspeople crippled and having nowhere to start from since their commodities would have been destroyed in the inferno.
Fire outbreaks have become so common that media houses are awash with reports of fire incidents within the city. In most cases, the causes of the outbreaks usually remain mysterious but in a few circumstances that the causes have been unearthed, most of them are linked to human error.
Fire can be caused by so many things which are countless. These include cigarettes, sparks from electrical machines or plugs just but to mention a few. That is why the words ‘no smocking’ are common in most business premises especially those that deal with inflammable substances such as fuel and gas.
Leaving electrical gadgets plugged and unswitched off when leaving business premises has also been blamed as another cause of fire in some premises.
Though many cases have been witnessed in Dar recently what comes to our mind is the recent incident when Tanzania Breweries Ltd was gutted by fire.
The overnight inferno destroyed dozens of crates with empty beer bottles estimated to be worth 4.5bn/-. The cause of the fire, however, is still being investigated though the incident was described as an act of sabotage.
A few days later another business premises was razed down by fire. Murzah Oil Mill’s Jumbo Packaging print industries in Kipawa, Dar es Salaam was reduced to ashes..
The fire was caused by flying sparks from a welding machine and destroyed property worth billions of shillings. Asked for a comment, the company’s managing director, Abdul Zakaria, could not immediately state the extent of the damage caused by the fire but he said each warehouse stored at least 1.000 tonnes of packaging rollers of papers estimated to be costing billions of shillings.
Besides the above major incidents to recently rock Dar, so many other fires were reported leaving businesspeople shading tears and wondering if ever they will be able to stand back to their feet again.
It is against this background that the business sector continues to operate in fear of fire outbreaks. What is more disturbing, however is that many businesspeople don’t know what to do when they are faced with this situation and worse still what steps to do to prevent the fires.
A snap survey carried out by this reporter revealed that most of the people don’t believe fires can be prevented. They attributed it to fate.
“I believe fire outbreaks don’t just occur. It’s a matter of bad luck and once it attacks you, you won’t escape from it, no matter hard you try to prevent the fire,” said Daudi Mlope a businessman who runs a successful grocery shop near Bakwata Busi Stand in Yombo.
Most businesspeople, however, blamed the fire brigade, popularly known as Zimamoto for their failure to quickly respond to fire outbreaks.
“The fire brigades are to blame, because they take urges to respond to a call and worst still they come unprepared either without adequate water or ill equipped,” said one businesswoman who requested anonymity.
She also added that a lot of property could be saved if the fire fighters put their house in order.
The fire brigade department has for a long time reiterated that they were doing their best to fight fires in the city, turning the blame on many barriers that stifle their efforts..
Traffic jams have been described as the main challenge this department is facing in executing their duties. This causes them to reach their destination very late and at a time when fire would have destroyed a larger chunk of the property.
Addressing the press recently the Dar es Salaam Head of Rescue and Fire Brigade, Fikiri Salla, not only did he blame the unplanned erection of tall buildings and traffic jams as major challenges the department was facing, but also highlighted the problem of insufficient water at fire brigade stations.
He said it was a challenge that is complicating fire extinguishing exercises in case of fire outbreaks.
Despite all these challenges facing the fire fighting department in the city, the responsible authorities are not helplessly watching as fire continue to wreck havoc but have embarked on measures to counter this social anomaly.
It is against this background that the city council recently sent ten employees to Germany for practical training on how to deal with fire incidents.
In addition, it spent 12m/- as transport costs for two special fire engines, from Japan to Tanzania, meant to enhance fire fighting in the city.
The vehicles have been donated by the government of Japan and are part of the bilateral cooperation in supporting the social development in the country.
As much important as it is to educate business people on how to deal with the fire when it visit them, it is also important to teach them on how to prevent the problem. As the saying goes ‘prevention is better than cure.’

‘Fast foods’ – business or death sentence

Eugeniah Madhidha

The coming in of the global economic crisis has seen most families venturing into small businesses to save themselves from the devastating effects. This has seen many Tanzanians venturing into food businesses selling various types of foods, ranging from roasted chicken, chips, fruits and so on just but to mention a few.

Though these businesses have brought in smiles on the faces of most families whose members could be sleeping on empty stomachs but who are now having food on the table every evening, these food vendors have for a long time now been blamed for operating under unhygienic areas something that can fuel diseases.

These vendors have been blamed not only of spreading the dreaded cholera, but have also been blamed for fueling reckless eating habits for the ordinary people in this country who eat what ever they come across as long as it is cheap.

A cardiologist from India's Nayarayana Hrudulayala Heart Institute, Dr Pujar Suresh, over the weekend said the majority of Tanzanians risk getting diabetes and high blood pressure due to poor eating habits.

The heart specialist made the remarks in Dar es Salaam shortly after examining about 200 patients at the Regency Medical Centre during a two-day free heart testing.

Dr Suresh noted that his examinations found out that the number of patients were overweight and shown signs of diabetes, whose cause is over eating as well as eating haphazardly.

A snap survey by this reporter revealed that many people eat blindly as they don’t care much as to what goes into their mouths as long as it is affordable.

“ I usually do not mind what I eat, though I have my favourite food which is fish and rice. I eat a wide range of foods. What determines what I eat is my pocket. Sometimes I just buy a soft drink and chips or chicken if I have money,” said a man who identified himself as Pendo, a resident of Yombo, Kilakala

He went on to say that food is readily accessible in Dar es Salaam and that normally he eats at a number of places and different meals though he has his favourite place.

Another resident, who couldn’t be drawn into mentioning her name confirmed that many people eat haphazardly and that what usually determine what people eat, is the size of their pockets.

The Acting Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Evance Balama, has already issued a statement warning the vendors to stop operating from unhygienic places such as open areas to curb the cholera pandemic, but this if fully implemented will not only save the public when it comes to the pandemic, but will go a long way in reducing eating of fast foods that are hurriedly prepared, that have been attributed to the heart problems facing many people.

It is unfortunate that the RC’s order has been stalled by laxity and bribery allegations amongst city executives and militiamen. On the other hand, the vendors have remained adamant that they will continue with their businesses despite the existence of an order barring them from doing so.

Dr Pujar Suresh went on to urge the government to take immediate actions by providing education to the public through mass media to save people from the risks.

This will go a long way in conscientising people so that they worry of their health and eat healthy foods. Failure to do, many ordinary people will continue to eat their way to their graves after succumbing to heart diseases, something not good for development.

Whither war on cholera

. . . as food vendors defy orders to stop selling unhygienic foods
EUGENIA MADHIDHA

THE cholera pandemic continues to cause untold suffering to wananchi through out the country despite concerted efforts by the authorities to curb the social anomaly. If reality on the ground and recent figures on reported and recorded cholera cases are to go by, then there is no light at the end of the tunnel as the disease is spreading like veld fire.

The coming in of the rain season, coupled with the general populace’s lack of hygienic consciousness has been blamed for the ever increasing number of cholera cases recorded through out the country.

Though no latest updates on cholera cases could be obtained by the time of going to press, statistics availed last week revealed that Dar es Salaam Region had a total of 211 cases that had been reported so far.

Temeke District was said to be having the highest number of reported cholera cases where 73 had been recorded while Kinondoni District had 68 and Ilala had 70.

Contacted for comment then, the Acting Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Evance Balama, said: “I want to remind people to observe hygiene especially when preparing food as city executives are working on modalities to bring awareness to the public on the disease.”

The RC also expressed fear that city executives are taking bribes as they were ignoring an order he issued earlier banning all food vendors preparing and selling food in open and unhygienic areas, instructing the city authorities to descend on them.

According to the order, all vendors operating from unhygienic areas were supposed to stop their business or face legal action. This was so because they were blamed for fueling the spreading of cholera.

The RC’s fears were confirmed by Ilala municipal authorities recently who admitted the presence of bribery and corruption amongst city executive officers and city militia when it comes to an exercise of removing food vendors operating in open and unhygienic areas.

This was confirmed by the Ilala Municipal Director, Gabriel Fiume that it was true that some militia are involved in such acts.

According to him, it is difficult for the exercise to be implemented at once because of these problems so in a bid to curb bribery, city militia men were now deployed on rotational basis, saying that no militiaman will be assigned to work in one place for more than one week.

“The reshuffle system will help given the fact that vendors do not develop friendships with militiamen and thus cannot create any chance for her/him to be bribed,” he said.

Despite all these efforts and laxity by city authorities in as far as dealing with cholera is concerned, reality on the ground shows that the war against the disease is far from being won. A visit by this reporter in Temeke District, one of the most affected districts in this region reveals that city fathers still have a lot of work to do.

The situation in Tandika is pathetic to say the list. Food vendors openly and continue to sell food under unhygienic environment despite the order. In separate interviews with this reporter, vendors in Tandika said they have no other source of income and life is difficult so they will continue to risk and defy the order in order for them to feed their families.

“We are aware that there is an order banning us from selling food items in open areas, but, if we are to abandon this business then what will we do? We have hungry mouths to feed at home, so if they want us to stop this then they should give us hygienic places to do our business,” said a sugarcane vendor who requested anonymity.

The situation at Mwembe Yanga was not pleasing also as vendors were operating near pools of dirty rainy water mixed with garbage. On the near side is a fried chicken vendor whose operational environment leaves a lot to be desired. Other vendors could also be seen, crowded at the same area selling different types of foodstuffs such as mangoes, oranges, sugarcane and many other types of foods.

The busy area, which also operates as a bus stand, is in a sorry state and food vendors there became suspicious of this reporter, despite having identified herself, they were not cooperating as they thought the reporter was one of the council officials who had come to implement the ban. However, they confirmed being aware of the ban but could not shed more light on their defiance.

At Yombo Kilakala and Vituka areas the situation wasn’t any better. The situation is worse in this godforsaken area where women in these suburbs prepare and sell different kinds of foods such as chapatti, mihogo and mandazi just but to mention few by the roadside where the environment they prepare food is not hygienic at all. Their wares are not covered and dust from the passing vehicles quickly settles onto the food, not to talk about swarms of flies that will be feasting on the food.

A look at meat vendors especially those selling chicken pieces, is not pleasing. The meat is exposed both to dust and flies to an extent that it needs people with stronger hearts to buy and worse still cook and eat. Asked why they continue defying an order banning them, some professed ignorance while others cited economic hardships as their main reasons.

With no solution in sight for the problem of unhygienic foods being sold on our streets, then the problem of cholera is here to stay. It remains true that with the global economic recession taking its toll on ordinary citizens, then they wouldn’t let go their sole source of income without a fight or resistance, making the job of city authorities to clear the streets of unhygienic foods an insurmountable task.

As long as no solution is found for the problem of food vending, with vendors continue to defy orders to stop selling from unhygienic places, then winning the war against cholera will just but remain a dream.

Coins selling – A necessity or liability?

EUGENIA MADHIDHA

TWO boys were digging a hole at their parents’ house as they were playing and one of them said that if they get (from their digging) a 200/- coin they were going to buy some sweets. The other one disagreed and said that they were going to buy books and write what they want. A heated debate ensured degenerating into a fist fight.

Their mother heard of the noise and came out of the house and demanded to know why they were fighting.

But undeterred by the presence of the mother, the boys continued arguing, “No! We are going to buy books,” said one of the boys. “You stupid, I told you we are going to buy sweets,” argued the other.

Out of curiosity the mother asked where the money was and where they got it from.

Then one of the boys said “We haven’t got it yet.”

Surely, coins are important such that even kids become happy if you give them some. The shrewd ones have decided to earn a living out of coins and indeed they are smiling everyday because coins are on demand especially to bus conductors.

Early this year, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulation Authority (SUMATRA) reduced transport costs of transport costs especially for urban areas. In Dar for example, fares were reduced from 300/- to 250/- for shorter distances.

This gave conductors a lot of headaches since it was difficult to get 50/- coins for change. As a result, a lot of commuters cried foul over losing a lot of 50/- to conductors.

This then necessitated coin sellers to provide the much needed coins and there has been a remarkable increase in the number of people trading in coins.

As the situation threatened to go out of hand, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) imposed a ban on the practice arguing that it was illegal and fuels corruption.


A snap survey carried out by the Times unearthed that the ban has fallen on deaf ears as the coins business is thriving.

The coins sellers do it in broad day light and openly display their wares without fear of being reprimanded. With these difficult times aggravated by the global economic recession, those undertaking the business are eking a living out of it.

According to them, they are now able to feed their families and fulfill other obligations. Countless commuters and buses are always on the road, which means more business to the coins sellers.

“I don’t know anything about the banning of coins, but even though, this is my only way of surviving. I have been in this kind of business for sometime now and I can’t complain,” said a coins seller at Bakwata in Yombo who just identified himself as Mudi.

This man is selling 950/- of coins at 1000/- and can get thousands of shillings though he did not specify. They are three in his family and all are in the same type of business, his brothers are operating from other business centres.

However, the price of coins varies according to places. At the new Post Office in town, the price is higher as compared to Bakwata. A woman at Posta is selling 800/- coins for 1000/-.

The woman who requested anonymity, said life is going on well. “I’m earning a living out of trading in coins,” she said adding that if the police decide to come after them like they once did, she will not know where to start from.

Though a paradox remains as to whether coins business is a necessity or a liability the BoT should weigh the merits and demerits of the business and come up with a bold move.

Though labeled as illegal and fueling corruption, the sector feeds many mouths in Tanzania and provides relief to many commuters who for a long time had been losing a lot of money through change problems as bus conductors were hiding behind the scarcity of 50/- coins to amass extra cash.

Whither Dar water problems

EUGENIA MADHIDHA

Water is life, goes an old adage, as it constitutes more than 75 percent of the human body and is used for various vital purposes and ways to save flora and fauna. But, the same life-giving precious liquid can turn lethal as it tends to keep dangerous organisms not only harmful to humans but to life in general.

This has led to humanity battling water borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery for a long period and though they found the answer to the problem - clean water - it is unfortunate that provision of it to every citizen has just but remained a pipe dream for many societies.

It is against this background that the problem has been causing headaches within governments and societies world over as they face many challenges such as shortage of water treating chemicals, equipment, vandalism and theft, in their bid to provide the rare liquid.

Tanzania like any other Third World country has not been spared as the problem has been prevailing for many years now. And, as if it was not enough, efforts by the government to provide wananchi with clean water have been watered down by acts of vandalism and thefts of water equipment such as pipes and valves, especially by scrap metal traders.

In Dar es Salaam, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority (DAWASA) and Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Corporation (DAWASCO), have been suffering vandalism and theft for a longtime despite steps to counter the stealing of pipes and other water equipment affecting the water supply network in the city.

According to DAWASA, more than 360 pieces worth some 700m/- have been stolen since 2006. The pieces include valves, fire hydrants, flanges, coupling, water meters, pipe joints and steel cover and are still working on recovering them.

“Thieves of water and sanitary system parts live among us and sometimes some of us see them in action. We, DAWASA and DAWASCO, call upon you to report to us such thefts for members of the society are victimized. We will treat all SMS information as secret and will deal with such information without delay and legal steps will be taken against suspected thieves,” the organization said in a statement recently.

These problems have been denying wananchi access to clean water in Dar es Salaam to an extent that some of the residents have been forced to fetch water from unprotected shallow wells, something that posses a great danger to their health.

Water supply, because of vandalism and thefts has been erratic in most suburbs in the city causing untold suffering among residents who are forced to buy the water exorbitantly from hawkers who eke a living out of the desperate residents. Most Dar residents buy water from street vendors every day, paying 250/- to 300/- equivalent to 18 to 22 US cents for a 20-litre container. These prices, however, are many are times hiked to 500/- per container as vendors take advantage of the scarcity.

This provides a source of income for some unemployed city youths. A survey conducted by this paper revealed that water vendors can earn between 10 000/- to 15 000/- per day, depending on demand.

This quest for making quick buck has seen many people engaging in uncouth activities such as stealing of water equipment or illegal connections to the water supply network. DAWASCO has been for a long-time discovered many illegal connections that they disconnected, by-passing official connections to avoid paying for the water used.

Last week, three people were arrested in Sinza, Dar es Salaam for allegedly tampering with DAWASCO infrastructure. The company’s chief commercial officer, Raymond Mndolwa said that the suspects drilled into big eight inch water pipe and allegedly connected their pipes that enabled them to access water and started selling it to customers including big water vehicles.

“We have followed it up and discovered that a fleet of about 50 vehicles come here to fetch water and sell it in various parts of the city, which amounts to sabotage. The sabotaged pipe is the one that supplies water to the entire Sinza area,” remarked Mndolwa.

Six water pumps were confiscated in the operation at three houses in the area. Such acts of sabotage are counter productive as they thwart efforts by the government to provide clean water to wananchi as greedy citizens take advantage and make it an opportunity to rack millions of dollars.

Though the announced DAWASA water supply improvement plan of developing two underground aquifers in two phases comes as good news for residents who have been grappling to get clean water, there is need to make sure that the equipment is guarded to reduce vandalism and thefts.

The first phase, expected to begin this September, 20 deep wells will be drilled, producing 260 000 cubic metres a day. And, in March 2010, construction will begin on the expansion of Lower Ruvu treatment plant to increase output to 170 00 cubic metres of water per day. The Upper Ruvu is also penciled for expansion from 80 000 to 140 000 cubic metres per day.

This comes as sweet music to Dar residents but with the global economic crisis continuing to bite, the difference will remain the same if everyone does not play his or her role to safeguard water supply equipment. Failure to do so, Dar es Salaam will remain a thirsty city.

EAC common market to benefit cross border traders

EUGENIA MADHIDHA (Msasanuri)

ABDUL is a cross-border-trader who every month makes a trip to Kenya where he sells various items. This Yombo, Kilakala resident is earning a living through trading and has been doing this for a long time now for his family to survive.

However, the man has been facing so many challenges hindering his business from prospering. He complained that the tax charged for his goods at the border is just too much such that sometimes he is forced to bribe whoever will be in charge for that day for him to pay less.

Besides this man, many traders have been complaining of similar problems expressing that sometimes they are forced to leave their goods at the border after failing to pay for the expenses. Innocent traders who are not interested in bribing just pay for the expenses but after selling their goods they find themselves frowning all the way to the bank because they would be having very little profits.

The traders also complained that sometimes there are a lot of road blocks and long queues at the border. This inconveniences them as they will delay them in their business since time in business is money. “Most of the time we loose our customers because they are snatched by those who would have come before us”, said one of the traders

As many traders were living in such misery, light is beginning to shine as the EAC moves into a common market next year, improving the performances of the Customs Union.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda was quoted by the media saying that bureaucracy at border posts; unnecessary length customs procedures, police road blocks and other factors were causing high costs of doing business in his speech at EAC high level Regional Forum on Customs Reforms and implementation of a fully fledged Customs Union in Arusha recently.

The PM added that there will be free movement of goods enabled by the Customs Union and also free movement of persons, labour, services and capital.

This came as sweet music to many traders whose businesses have been crippled by the hustles and who had lost hope as they can now get back on their feet.

As if it to promote the Customs Union, the Ministry of East Africa Cooperation organized a trip for twenty Tanzanian traders to other EAC member countries in November this year.

According to a statement issued to the press, the trade mission aims to mobilize investments to Tanzania as well as cementing existing business relations. Traders are going to learn various production and trading techniques.

Other cross-border traders are expecting to benefit a lot from their colleagues going for the trip. “We expect those traders to also come and empower us with the knowledge they will be having”, said Abdul adding that a candles looses nothing by lighting another candle.

In September last year thirty local traders were involved in a trip to Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi which was made a success by the Tanzania Private Sector foundation (TPSF) in collaboration with the Ministry of East Africa Cooperation.

Statistics released in the statement indicated that Tanzania increased its exports to Kenya from $93.3m in 2005 to $232.2m in 2008. In 2006 Tanzania’s exports to Kenya were $103.7m and $123.4m in 2007

“Clearly as the EAC moves into the next higher level of integration, with the planned on-set of the common market, the deeper liberalization of Tanzanian capital account would give a much needed filling to the free movement of capital in the region,” said the EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu as he was commenting on the PM’s plan to review Tanzania’s capital account conditions which at present impedes the broad participation of Tanzanians in the region capital market.

However, if these are implemented properly and all promises fulfilled, traders are going to benefit a lot and operate their businesses without any hick-ups, hence making their life easier.

Will Dar auxiliary police end the problem of garbage?

EUGENIA MADHIDHA

The place is filthy as heaps of garbage keep on piling especially from vegetable vendors strategically positioned along the street and those from a nearby market. Not only is the place an eyesore, but also a pungent smell comes out of the dump causing everyone who passes through that place to spit.

Surprisingly, just a few meters away from there is a woman selling food stuffs, opposite is a restaurant and a swam of flies probably from the garbage dump are not only unwanted visitors but are an inconvenience to those enjoying their delicious meals.

The dinners are not only forced to ward off the flies but find themselves removing those that would have been fried together with their meals. This is not a fictitious story from a novel but describes the situation on the ground along one of the streets in Karakoo.

At the place you can find all kinds of garbage you may think of, banana, oranges and other fruit peals, rotten vegetables, papers, empty water bottles and so on. What flabbergast me most is that the people contributing to the ever piling rubbish are aware of the consequences. Diseases like cholera, dysentery, stomach upsets just to mention three are not exceptions when it comes to dirty environment.

“We know of the problems we might face from throwing rubbish everywhere but we have no option because there are no rubbish bins”, said a nearby food vendor who requested anonymity. She added that even if one happens to buy a rubbish bin the city council takes ages to collect the garbage.

A snap survey conducted by this reporter indicates that it is true there are no adequate rubbish bins on the streets of Dar es Salaam. One can walk from corner to corner without coming across a rubbish bin. This is the main reason people throw garbage everywhere in the streets.

Summer season is the hottest and there is no doubt water sales are increasing day by day. The weather causes people to buy water in a short space of time for them not to suffer from dehydration. Also, this is the season where we find many fruits so their prices decline and many people are found buying them a lot, hence the rate at which people are going to be throwing of garbage is bound to increase.

The problem of garbage carpeting the streets and inconveniencing residents and passersby in Dar es Salaam has been with us for a longtime now. In fact, a permanent solution to the problem seems to be eluding the powers be.

In recent years, many attempts have been made to curb the problem but all efforts have been in vain. The city council having realized that petty traders contribute significantly to pollution in the city, employed city militia to arrest those found selling their wares at un designated areas. This however, seems to be failing since vendors and the militia play hide and seek game resulting in traders maintaining a heavy presence on our streets.

At this darkest hour of the evening, light seems to be shining in Dar es Salaam since the police and the city council have teamed up to curb this problem.

They jointly formed an auxiliary police force that will be operating in the Dar es Salaam region. The auxiliary police, headed by former police commanders, will be there to enforce city by-laws including fining those that are found throwing garbage onto the streets.

Everyone found on the wrong side of the law will be fined $50 000/- . Speaking during a ceremony to inaugurate the force and allocate uniforms for the different municipalities in the region, this week, Dar es Salaam Regional commissioner, William Lukuvi warned city residents that they should comply with city by-laws or leave, adding that those who fail to comply will face the wrath of the law.

At the ceremony, Temeke municipality auxiliary police were given grey coluor, Ilala municipality auxiliary police will wear green while Kinondoni got maroon and the Dar es Salaam city council police will put on blue.

The RC said that the exercise will nab those who litter the city haphazardly throwing food leftovers, plastic bottles and papers on the streets.

Though this is a step towards the right direction, more seems to be needed in order to put an end to the problem of litter. Fining people for throwing litter onto the streets alone will not help as there are no bins for them to use. This therefore means that there is need for concerted efforts by both the public and private sectors to fight this social anomaly.

This is so because as long as there are no rubbish bins in the streets, and garbage remains uncollected for months then Dar es Salaam will continue being an eyesore